An armed man is dead after exchanging gunfire with officers who responded to a Laurel, Maryland, home for a “domestic disturbance,” Saturday afternoon, investigators said.
Howard County police were called to the 10000 block of American Pharoah Lane at about 3:10 p.m. after a 911 caller said a man was banging on the front door of the home, according to a news release from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
Armed with a shotgun, the man fired several rounds at the door and got inside through a window, according to the news release.
Police said body camera footage showed “responding officers encountered a female victim on an outside upper ledge of the house and an adult male suspect at a window inside the residence with a long gun.”
After repeatedly refusing to drop his weapon, two officers exchanged gunfire with the man, according to the attorney general’s office.
Police established a barricade at the home. When they couldn’t get in contact with the man, officers went inside and found he had been wounded. The man died at the scene, according to the attorney general’s office.
Investigators found several loaded guns and a knife nearby his body.
No one else was hurt during the shooting.
When officers looked inside the home, they found “multiple shell casings from an unknown weapon, as well as several firearms,” police said.
Howard County police said in a news release that it is, “unclear whether gunfire by an officer or the suspect’s own weapon resulted in his death.”
None of the officers on the scene of the other occupants of the house were injured, police said.
Because it is a “suspected police-involved fatal shooting,” the Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division will conduct the investigation, Howard County police said.
The attorney general’s office said footage from the officers body-worn cameras will likely be released by the end of the month, unless its release could interfere with the investigation.
Investigators are also expected to release the names of the man and the officers who fired their weapons. That information is typically shared within two business days of the incident.
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer has contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
